Tuesday, November 28, 2017

The previous post, Brussels Sprouts Holiday Branch, featured a variety of bird silhouettes carved from tangerine peels for decoration. Here are the how-to instructions for making your own bird silhouette decorations, to be used on a Christmas tree or just hung in a window to brighten your day with their orange glow as the sun shines through.

I cut my tangerines in half vertically because I end up with more useable peel surface that way. Once your tangerine is cut in half, use a spoon to remove the fruit inside and to scrape all (or at least most) of the white pith from the inside of the peel. Be gentle but firm. This is a learn-as-you-go technique, figuring out how to be gentle enough not to tear the peel, but firm enough so that you remove the pith.

Scraping the pith from inside the peel

Either copy and print the image below, or download a printable PDF of this bird template sheet using this link: Tangerine Silhouettes.

Bird silhouettes: 8.5 x 11 sheet

The smaller silhouettes are suitable for use with tangerines; the larger silhouettes work well for use with oranges. Cut out birds, leaving a little space around each bird (you're not fine-cutting the silhouette yet). Glue each bird silhouette to a piece of tangerine peel using an ordinary old glue stick. This part of the process is a bit of a puzzle, shifting pieces around until you find a perfect fit between your silhouette and your section of tangerine peel.

Glueing silhouettes to sections of peel.

Use an X-acto knife with a clean, sharp blade to carefully cut out each silhouette.

Cut out silhouette using an exacto knife

Once you have finished cutting out your tangerine silhouette, simply wash off the paper and glue and pat the tangerine silhouette dry with a paper towel. At this point, use wire or thread and pierce a little hole in the top of your silhouette for hanging. You want to do this while the tangerine skin is still soft. Once dried, it will be brittle, hard, and difficult to do.

You have a couple of options for drying your tangerine bird silhouettes. I have found sand (available from any garden shop) works well, particularly when making tangerine boxes (another fun project you can find by following this link: Orange, Lemon and Lime Boxes). See example of bird silhouettes drying in sand below, but be aware that you want to completely cover the silhouettes with sand once you've placed them on the sand bed.

Drying silhouettes using a bed of sand

Alternatively, you can press your silhouettes between several layers of paper towels, using a stack of books on top. Change the paper towels every few hours if using this technique. You want the end result to be totally dry and flat. Either the sand or press technique will take a couple of days. If you've dried them correctly, your decorations should last for several years.